Thirteen Lives (02.17.23)

 

I don’t remember what I was up to in 2018, but I do know that I wasn’t paying particular attention to things that were going on in the news. As someone who majored in history I have a great passion for the subject, but I often find myself woefully inattentive to big events when they are actually unfolding. I was vaguely aware of some kids being trapped in a cave in Thailand at that time and I certainly wished them well, but it was not until later that I realized just how scary and desperate things had gotten for the junior soccer team in question. Luckily for me, filmmakers, documentarians, and authors never let a good story go to waste, so just a few years later I would learn all about the struggle, heroism, and fear involved via Thirteen Lives, a tightly scripted, finely crafted film that will undoubtedly be the authority on the event for years to come.  

              The second movie by director Ron Howard about a real-life event where a large amount of people go to great lengths to save a small group of people with the number thirteen in the title, Thirteen Lives owes a lot to its director and cinematographer, as cool shots and harrowingly claustrophobic moments abound. The film, which mostly focuses on the British cave divers John Volanthen (played by Colin Farrell) and Rick Stanton (played by Viggo Mortensen), is surprisingly accurate, as Stanton himself was hired as a consultant and has said that the only unrealistic thing about the movie is the clarity of the cave water, which is, of course, a necessary change. Thirteen Lives is also fairly thorough in its recapturing, but rarely drags despite its 180 minute runtime. Things move along at a fine pace, keeping the audience engaged as the depicted days flash by and the anxiety mounts.  

              Another way the filmmakers bring authenticity to the retelling is through the casting and language, which I greatly appreciated. The ill-fated soccer team is played by actual Taiwanese children from the area, and people speak Taiwanese when it makes sense and English when it doesn’t. There’s never that awkward moment where people stop speaking their native language and permanently switch over to English for the sake of the audience, a wise omission that makes you feel like you are actually witnessing real events (I did miss out on some dialogue, as my cat chose to jump up in front of the TV and blocked the subtitles once or twice). And the kids are good; everyone is.  

One of the things I wish this movie would have done is spent more time with said children. We mostly see their struggles through the lens of their saviors, rarely dwelling on the fear and struggles they went through in the dark by themselves. The aforementioned good pacing also stumbles a bit near the end, which is overlong and could have definitely been streamlined to reduce viewer fatigue. But overall Thirteen Lives is the definitive retelling of a small piece of natural disaster history that just may make you never want to step foot in a cave again.  

              Thirteen Lives is now available on Amazon Prime.

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on February 17^th, 2023. Visit at the usual place (I’m too lazy to look up the hyperlink)

Cunk on Earth (02.10.23)

 

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.” A great line from Men in Black that has always been true, no matter how far back we reach in our history. When we view those who came before us as flawed, reactionary dummies, some historical events suddenly start to make more sense, and there is no better way to view stupid than through the lens of stupid. Luckily for us Philomena Cunk, Britain’s foremost dimwitted documentarian, is here to provide that lens in the hilarious, clever, and somewhat exhausting BBC/Netflix miniseries Cunk on Earth.

Created by Charlie Brooker and Diane Morgan for Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe, a satirical British news program in the same tradition as The Daily Show, Philomena Cunk may not be the most informed character. Or the brightest. But she is undoubtedly the most present, at least in this particular case, and that will have to do. Wonderfully brought to life by comedian Diane Morgan in past productions such as Cunk on Christmas and Cunk on Britain, Philomena is back once more, this time to tackle all of human history in five easy-to-digest 30 minute episodes. Like previous mockumentaries featuring the character, Cunk on Earth strikes a near perfect balance of stupidity and cleverness as well as low brow and high brow humor; in between simple yet effective gags such as Cunk accidentally combining Vladimir Lenin with John Lennon there are some genuinely salient historical observations, albeit heavily disguised in humor and satire (“The North asked the South what kind of America it wanted to live in: One where white people leeched off other races while treating them as inferior, or one where they pretended they didn’t?”)

I watched all five episodes of Cunk on Earth in one sitting, and despite the brilliance of the show I would not recommend doing this. It can be quite easy to do, as each episode is a quick and breezy 30 minutes, but back-to-back viewings can lead to some fatigue of the funny bone. I could not stop chuckling in the first installment, but by the fifth I was starting to appreciate the still well-written and equally well-delivered jokes less and less. When a punchline does occasionally arrive DOA in Cunk on Earth, which is inevitable in any comedy, there are usually a few right around the corner that more than make up for things, but there are also one or two gags in the show that don’t work and stick around for way too long. But if you pace it right and shake off the few stinkers in what is otherwise a meadow of sweet-smelling laughs, Cunk on Earth is a satire on par with some of the greatest that our modern day has to offer, from This is Spinal Tap to the golden age of The Colbert Report.

It won’t change your life and it won’t win any hoity-toity awards, but if you’re looking for some perspective and some laughs then Cunk is more than happy to take you there.

Cunk on Earth is now available on Netflix.

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on February 10^th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/

Andor Season 1 (02.03.23)

 

Whenever I get into a heated debate over whether or not the benefits of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber crossguard outweigh the many impracticalities of the thing, I have to remind myself that Star Wars was, and mostly still is, primarily made for kids. This reminder is a soothing balm for whenever the Jar Jar Binkses of the Star Wars galaxy stumble onto the screen, but it is also one that I sometimes forget to apply because I, like many others, grew up with the franchise. Shouldn’t we older fans be catered to now and then as well as kids? As they did with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Mandalorian before it, Disney actually obliged this last year by giving us Andor, possibly the most “grown up” Star Wars project to date.

The prequel to the prequel to the original, which is itself the fourth film in a nine-part saga, Andor explores the early days of the Rebellion from the eyes of Diego Luna’s character Cassian Andor from 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (mostly from his eyes, anyway... the cast is enormous). Unlike Disney+’s other Star Wars offerings, the story of Andor starts slow. Like, really slow. Nothing much happens in the first couple of episodes, and even after things hit the fan the events unfold on their own sweet time. I did not mind this at all. I found it refreshing, in fact, that Andor goes the more character-driven route rather than feeling the need for a spectacle every few minutes. A first for a franchise not known for having particularly good dialogue, the writing of Andor is engaging and believable, although I definitely recommend watching the show with subtitles—characters have a tendency to talk quietly and mumble at times, and when you factor in made up space-words it can be quite easy to miss an important nuance or two as plans, politics, and even philosophy are discussed.

These mumbly characters are, perhaps, the strongest asset that Andor enjoys. I said that the cast is enormous, and it is true, but every character, from the bad guys to the rebel foot soldiers to Andor himself are interesting to watch, proving once and for all that you don’t need a Skywalker or a Solo or a Kenobi to make a moving entry into the Star Wars canon. Despite this large ensemble Andor solidly remains the main character, a tough juggling act to pull off when you have as many irons in the fire as his show does.

And it is not all talking, of course... Andor still takes the time to inject some war into its Star Wars. When action does happen it is grounded and highly cathartic, a result of showrunner Tony Gilroy’s ability to ramp up expectations and let things breathe. The pacing of Andor is very well done, although I admit that I would have been frustrated if I had watched the show as each episode aired week after week instead of watching them all back-to-back like I did. I’m finding it hard to say anything bad about Andor; not only is it Star Wars for grownups, but it is Star Wars at its best.

Andor season 1 is now available on Disney+.

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on February 3rd, 2023. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/